○ Interviewsareeditedforclarityandlength.ListentoBloombergBusinessweekWith
CarolMassarandJasonKelly, weekdaysfrom2 p.m.to5 p.m.ETonBloombergRadio.BWTalks HansVestberg
VerizonCommunicationsInc.’schief
executiveofficertalksaboutpartnerships
withDisney,Apple,andAmazon,aswellas
thewondersof“edgecomputing”(think
lowlatency—thatis,quickresponsetimes)
comingtotheconsumermarketplace.
—CarolMassarandJasonKelly○ TheSwede,54,wasCEOofStockholm-based
telecommunicationsgiantEricssonfrom 2007
to 2009 ○ HetookthetopjobatVerizonin 2018
afterservingaschieftechnologyofficer○ He
waspresidentoftheSwedishOlympicCommittee
from 2016 to 2018Areyouseeingpayoffsfromthe
partnershipsyet?AppleMusic,definitely.
Disney+is stillin itsinfancy,
butwearehappywithit.Howaboutyouredge-computingdeal
withAmazonWebServices?Willit
fulfillthepromiseofswiftconnectivity
betweendeviceanddata?Thisis exciting.Weare
bringingtheircloudservice
togetherwithour5G.
Amazoncouldn’thave
doneit byitselfbecause
it doesn’thavewireless.
Verizoncouldn’thavedone
it byitselfbecausewedon’t
havecloudsoftware.Today,
a developercanclickonour
first5Gedgesitein Chicago
andstartdevelopingan
applicationwithlowlatency.Whatdoesthatenableyoutodo?Autonomouscars.Real-time
augmentedrealityandvirtual
reality.Artificialintelligence.
Allofthatcancomefromedge computing. And we’re
just seeing the start of it.How is the move from 4G to 5G different
from 2G to 3G to 4G?5G was meant to be a
wireless technology for
industries. It was never
thought that consumers
would get the benefit. But
phones are better every time
we get a new generation.
Twenty 5G phones are going
to launch this year. If you have
a 4G phone, you probably
have 40 to 50 megabits per
second. I get 2 gigabytes per
second on my 5G phone.You still have some media properties
such as Yahoo, HuffPost, and AOL.I can go to a customer and
say, “Hey, I’m not only gonna
sell you connectivity and 5G,
I also have the advertising
platform.” We’re happy with
the assets. They’re coming
from double-digit declines to
very small declines. BUSINESS18
THE BOTTOM LINE Ikea, battling aggressive online retailers, is
boosting sales in Russia with a digital tool for standard apartment
blocks that could be expanded to Germany, Poland, and China.self-service warehouse. Although the traditional
stores still account for about 90% of Ikea sales
worldwide, foot traffic has stagnated in recent
years as more young people move into urban
areas, drive less, and buy more things online.
The company has set up smaller outlets in cities
and expanded its e-commerce platform to fight
aggressive online rivals such as Wayfair Inc. and
Amazon.com Inc. “Almost all retail is moving to
have greater digital engagement, and those who do
not follow are likely to be left a long way behind,”
says Charles Allen, senior retail industry analyst at
Bloomberg Intelligence. “Ikea was slightly late but
is making a lot of investment to catch up.”
The Kvartiroteka service offers a choice of
designs for common apartment layouts in 14 types
of buildings. One suggested layout for a family
home shows a children’s room adapted for two
kids of different ages to share. A curtain divides
the room in two and displays recommended ward-
robes, chests of drawers, and mounted shelving
units that fit well in the space. In the hallway,
shelves under the ceiling save space, and hooks on
the wall can hang skateboards.
When Victoria Sanina wanted to renovate her
standard 12-square-meter bedroom last fall, she
drew inspiration from Kvartiroteka. The 28-year-
old graphic designer lives in Chelyabinsk, far from
any of Ikea’s 14 big-box stores in Russia. She saw an
image with nightstands attached to the wall instead
of standing on the floor. “I thought, that’s elegant,
and things won’t get lost behind them,” she says.
“I ordered them online with light fittings that turn
them into sources of light in the room.” Sanina
says her aunt, who lives in a typical five-floor block
known as the 1-335 series, is considering a ready-
made Ikea design to renovate her entire apartment.
Residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and
Tyumen who use Kvartiroteka can seek further
advice from a consultant at one of five smaller Ikea
“design studios” in the cities’ centers. The stores
may help keep people like Veronika Sumina shop-
ping at Ikea. The 31-year-old financier, on mater-
nity leave in Moscow, recalls when going to one of
the superstores was a big event. “You could have
spent half a day there—looking at the interiors,
sitting down on a sofa and taking a photo, eating
Swedish meatballs and shopping,” she says. “Now
it’s not comfortable for me anymore to go a large
Ikea store and spend a lot of time there navigat-
ing with a baby carriage.” —Ilya Khrennikov, with
Hanna HoikkalaJESSICA GOW/GETTY IMAGES